BURSA: A senior member of the Partiya Karkeren Kurdistane (PKK) terror organization – who is also known by his code name “Sefkan” – was arrested in western Bursa province, a police source said on Tuesday.
Police caught Resat Karabalik, so-called commander of Aladaglar area in eastern Van province, in Harmancik district, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.
Karabalik, who joined the militant group in the 2000s, had earlier served as the so-called commander of Tendurek region in eastern Agri province, the source added.
He had hidden at a house of his relatives in western Kutahya province for some time.
Karabalik was sent to Van province where he was remanded by a court.
PKK/PYD meets
The PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU – resumed its armed campaign against Turkey in July 2015.
Since then, it has been responsible for the deaths of more than 1,200 Turkish security personnel and civilians, including a number of women and children.
PKK/PYD terrorist organization, which is located at Amanos mountain range in Hatay province of south-central Turkey, meets the needs of their operatives through Afrin.
Amanos Mountains – which is also known as Nur Mountains – has emerged as a hideout for PKK/PYD, where the terrorist organization plots attacks.
Afrin – a district of Aleppo near the Turkish-Syria border, which is under siege by the PKK/PYD terrorist organization – stands out as a region, where PKK/PYD holds training for its terrorists and organize logistically.
In the last three years, more than 40 terrorists – who were trained about the use of explosives and ammunition – came to Amanos Mountains from Afrin district.
The support terrorist organization gets through Afrin was confessed several times by the suspects, who are in Turkish jails.
A terrorist named Resit Kodaks – who was sentenced to 29 years in jail after being caught by citizens with one M-16 gun and two hand grenades – confessed that he joined PKK/PYD in Afrin district.
Confessing that he was brainwashed ideologically and trained by the terrorist organization, Kodaks said the organization used to pay him $100 per month.
‘Wrongdoings’
“I did not like what I saw in the organization, I regretted my wrongdoings. We were six recruits at Amanos Mountains, I escaped and surrendered,” he said.
Kodaks said he had never participated in terrorist attacks.
Another terrorist, who was sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in jail after being caught near Turkey-Syria border in Hatay province, also made some confessions.
24-year-old woman Y B, who was 4-months pregnant at the time of arrest in 2012, said she had been affiliated with the organization for the past 9 years.
“I was recruited without my will. They told me that I was in the wanted list of terrorists, so I hid for a while in Iran and Iraq,” she said.
The terrorist said she was trained moved to Syria. “I did not manage to escape the organization. They held me in Afrin for 7 months,” she added.
Last year, ammunition, life support equipment and documents regarding the terrorist organization were seized during operations in Osmaniye province in south-central Turkey.
Afrin operation
The seized ammunition and equipment were spotted to be coming from Afrin district.
Turkey will continue to fight against terrorism along its southern borders with an operation in the northern Syrian region of Afrin, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.
“In the coming days, God willing, we will continue with Afrin [operation] – that we started first with Euphrates Shield Operation – to purge terrorism from our southern borders,” Erdogan said in the central Anatolian Tokat province.
The Afrin operation will follow Turkey’s successful seven-month Operation Euphrates Shield, which ended last March.
On Saturday, Turkish security forces hit several PKK/PYD targets in the Afrin district of Syria’s Aleppo province to prevent a “terror corridor” from forming along Turkey’s borders.
The PKK/PYD is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and EU.
Since the PKK launched its terror campaign in 1984, an estimated 40,000 people have been killed in Turkey in related violence.
